There is immense concern about economic inequality, both among the scholarly community and in the general public, and many insist that equality is an important social goal. However, when people are asked about the ideal distribution of wealth in their country, they actually prefer unequal societies.

Against Empathy: The Case for Rational Compassion. By Paul Bloom. Ecco; 304 pages; $26.99. Bodley Head; 290 pages; £18.99. IN an age of partisan divides it has become popular to assert that the wounds of the world would heal if only people made the effort to empathise more with each other.